By Kolawole Ojebisi
The Minister of Employment and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, threw a dollop of comic relief to what was meant to be a serious business of House Members’ oversight function on his ministry, Wednesday.
Ngige, who appeared before the House of Representatives committee on employment, exchanged words which bordered on the comical with James Faleke, member representing Ikeja Federal Constituency, Lagos.
The minister had appeared before the committee to defend himself against allegations of abuse of office.
The allegations are believed to have championed by Hon. Faleke
In a previous hearing, Faleke had alleged that Ngige inserted N2 billion projects in the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) 2020 budget .
But in his response Ngige said Faleke was either being “mischievous or ignorant of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) Act or both.”
He also accused the lawmaker of abusing “parliamentary privilege,” being ignorant of the fact that ministers cannot pad budgets because the final products come from the National Assembly.
He said he was already writing Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila on his readiness to “go to court to challenge Faleke for abusing his parliamentary privilege.”
But on Wednesday there was a comic twist to the exchange when Ngige said he was superior to Faleke by all indices, adding that he was even of a higher pedigree as a Lagosian.
The minister said he was on the same level with the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
He noted that aside from being age mates with the former Lagos governor, he also had the same political achievements with him, stressing that he was Tinubu’s age mate and older than Faleke by seven years.
He said, “Faleke, they said is up to 60. You are near my age, but I am at least seven years older than you. I’m sure. I am of the same age with your mentor in Lagos, Asiwaju. I was governor with him at the same time. He was a senator, and I was a senator. I am a two-time minister and he was a minister.”
The lawmaker, however, didn’t allow Ngige’s opening salvo slide.
In a swift reaction, he retorted that Tinubu won his own election “very well” apparently making reference to the controversies that trailed Ngige’s election as governor of Anambra State.
A veiled ridicule the minister quickly responded to by reminding Faleke, who was a former deputy governorship candidate of the APC in Kogi State, how his struggle to replace his running mate and governorship candidate, Abubakar Audu, was frustrated after the latter died shortly after they both won the election.
“Mr Minister, please respond,” Faleke fired back.
“I am responding. You yab me, I will yab you 10 times. I am a Lagos boy. You are just a small boy in Lagos. Look at this boy. Mushin boy is talking to a VI boy. I live in Victoria Island,” Ngige said.
Recall that Ngige had once threatened to sue Faleke over the same allegation of abuse of office.
